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John McCain: Imprisoned By His Own Mind

By TChris, Section Elections 2008
Posted on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 06:29:20 PM EST
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It isn't news every time a political candidate misspeaks. But when John McCain makes an unintended funny, it's worth a blog post.

In a campaign with plenty of gaffes to go around, John McCain added one to the mix Wednesday. The Republican vice-presidential candidate addressed a crowd in Pennsylvania as “my fellow prisoners.”

He meant to say "my fellow citizens." Freudian slip? Is the senator feeling a bit confined as the race draws to a close? Let's hope he's not having P.O.W. flashbacks.

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    John McCain: Imprisoned By His Own Mind | 22 comments (22 topical)

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    Hmmmm.... (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by Angel on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 06:38:38 PM EST
    I think what he said is funny, but please, don't you try to be funny with the POW flashback line.  I know guys that suffered greatly from that kind of thing after they left Vietnam.  Not funny.

    I have to agree (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by AlkalineDave on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 06:46:41 PM EST
    with the post above.  Post traumatic stress disorder is a horrible thing, and if he were experiencing it, I would feel sorry for him.

    Parent
    I agree (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by TChris on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 06:52:05 PM EST
    that PTSD is a serious problem for the people who experience it.  I know people and have represented people who are seriously scarred by their military experiences.  None of them are running for president and I would not poke fun at any of them.  But John McCain assures us that his mental health is excellent, that he suffers no ill-effects from his experience, and that he is qualified for the presidency.  Taking a shot at McCain isn't taking a shot at people who actually have a mental illnesses.

    Parent
    Perhaps you should have worded your post (none / 0) (#6)
    by Angel on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 06:56:34 PM EST
    differently.  The way it's worded makes it sound like you are making a joke.  

    Parent
    I think some people are letting their glee in (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by Angel on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 06:50:30 PM EST
    Obama's rising numbers distort their thinking.  We should never, ever, make jokes about being a POW.  John McCain served his country, and he paid a great price for it.  For anyone to make a joke about that is unforgivable.  

    As someone who frequently mixes (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by oculus on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 07:18:00 PM EST
    up words, who has never been a POW (unless being in Norfolk, VA for a yr. against my will qualifies), I think making fun of Sen. McCain's mix-up isn't funny or a good idea for the opposition, even on blogs.

    Yep. I'm serious. I'm from the Vietnam (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by Angel on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 07:21:47 PM EST
    generation and don't find POW jokes funny.  

    hey now (none / 0) (#17)
    by Salo on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 07:57:12 PM EST
    my Granda was a POW in ww1 and he told me some funny stories about being a POW down the German coal mines.

    Parent
    Funny, not at all, (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by KeysDan on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 07:35:24 PM EST
    but it is worrisome.  Governor Palin was next to him, and maybe she could have mentioned his slip of the tongue and moved on, even with one of his customary disconnected jokes..  But Ms. Palin and others nearby  seemed  stricken and hoped no one would notice.

    Now this is funny: (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by oculus on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 08:07:16 PM EST
    "With the crisis in Wall Street and Washington, I'm suspending my comic strip to assist the nation," Mr. Breathed, 51, said in the statement. "The best way I can help is to leave politics permanently and write funny stories for America's kids." Mr. Breathed began publishing "Opus" in 2003 (above, Opus the penguin); it was the second spinoff of his caustic comic strip "Bloom County," which ran from 1980 to 1989 and won him the Pulitzer for editorial cartooning in 1987.
     [NTY, Arts Briefly; italics added.]

    Bill/Opus '08! (5.00 / 1) (#27)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Thu Oct 09, 2008 at 11:02:47 AM EST
    I was saddened to read that Berke is putting Opus out to pasture.  

    He's a good guy and a very sharp mind/wit.  Like me, a little quiet and reserved.  I wish him well in retirement.

    I lived next door to Berke when he was just getting BC up and running.  At the time, he was living in the boarding house that is featured in the strip.  In fact, there is a lot of things in the strip that are Iowa City based.  

    Reading the old strips always brings back fond memories for me.  

    Parent

    He wasn't having PTSD (5.00 / 0) (#21)
    by litigatormom on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 09:03:39 PM EST
    McCain's problem is that his status as a POW is a core element of why he thinks he is entitled to be president. He's thinking, "I'm a POW, a war hero, and I'm losing to this little snot? I deserve this!"

    So I think he was just having the Mother of All Freudian Slips, mixing up the image he wants his audience to have of him, and the audience himself.

    And now I myself have slipped (none / 0) (#22)
    by litigatormom on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 09:05:30 PM EST
    The last three words should be "the audience itself."

    See how easy it is?

    Parent

    Well (none / 0) (#8)
    by Steve M on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 07:08:54 PM EST
    I won't pile on Chris, but I don't find it funny.  I find it more sad than anything.

    is it funny when a blogger mis-speaks? (none / 0) (#14)
    by mexboy on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 07:45:42 PM EST
    John McCain added one to the mix Wednesday. The Republican vice-presidential candidate

    John McCain is the Republican PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE.
    I guess you suffer the same disease McCain suffers, and you haven't been a POW, nor are you a senior citizen.

    Is this funny too?

    I hate to rain on your parade... (5.00 / 1) (#16)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 07:52:21 PM EST
    ...but that's not TChris--that is a direct quote from the WSJ article.  

    Parent
    You are spoiling their fun . . . stop! (none / 0) (#19)
    by JoeA on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 08:09:10 PM EST


    Parent
    The Republican vice-presidential candidate (none / 0) (#15)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 07:49:53 PM EST
    Ya can't make this stuff up.

    Parent
    The WSJ got that info (5.00 / 0) (#23)
    by litigatormom on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 09:06:31 PM EST
    from Sarah Palin. You know, the head of the Palin-McCain ticket.

    Parent
    Objective evaluation (none / 0) (#20)
    by koshembos on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 08:49:37 PM EST
    The MSM and even the Blogs don't evaluate the person behind the politician. In Bush's case, Only after a year in Iraq, people realized that something is terribly wrong with the guy. The solution was: moron. It may be true, but a much better observation is to realize our president is a toddler. As one, he doesn't understand democracy, compromise and lacks an adult like brain.

    The case with McCain is not much different. This time we deal with teen ager. It's an improvement, but can't we demand that our leaders be adults? As a teen ager, McCain is too impulsive, doesn't use reason much (many teen ager actually do, just some don't), hot head and jumps into fights (these are the war he want to have all the time) and his mucho sense is very primitive (we will leave Iraq only after victory - what the hell is victory in Iraq, no one knows).

    Finding a small error will not change the fact that he may a terrible president.

    What I find odd... (5.00 / 1) (#25)
    by Salo on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 09:57:14 PM EST
    ...is that they failed to analyse Bush as he was acting in real time committing the crimes.  Then they go bonkers when he's a dead duck, and a fairly successful invasion and occupation becomes the ultimate political stigma. (I say successful in a very narrow sense. It was too bloody and pricey of course.  Yet judged purely as a hostile take over of an oil rich state it was almost genius) It makes the British Empire look a bit clumsy, but a government that engineered that sort of coup wouldn't have fallen like the GOP is doing so today. Obama won't get the US out of that central controlling area of Arabia. No pol with Ambition will cede that commanding real estate--No effing way will/can he give up Baghdad.  And yet the discourse about the US running the place is all distorted in the media to ensure the architects of the takeover don't get the midterm political benefit.

    They don't deserve to reap the reward part of the whirlwind they sowed for other reasons.

    Parent

    Probably he thought . . . (none / 0) (#26)
    by Doc Rock on Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 10:00:37 PM EST
    . . . he was speaking to Wall Street CEO's.

    John McCain: Imprisoned By His Own Mind | 22 comments (22 topical)

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